High compression engine



March 3, 1936. JOHNSTON 2,032,755

HIGH COMPRESSION ENGINE Filed Aug. 19, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet l Ira/@2507[Vim/a J .j Aim, J fl March 3,v 1936. E. A. JOHNSTON HIGH COMPRESSIONENGINE Filed Aug. 19', 1951 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 3, 1936. E. A.JOHNSTON HIGH COMPRESSION ENGINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 19, 1931IZZY/6261207 March 3, 1936. E. A. JOHNSTON HIGH COMPRESSION ENGINE FiledAug. 19, 1931 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented. Mar. 3, 1936 UNITED STATESnIGnooMeREssIoN ENGINE Edward A. Johnston, Chicago, 111., assi'gnor toInternational Harvester Company, a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationAugust 19, 1931, Serial No. 557,397

9 Claims.

This invention relates to a high compression internal combustion engine.

More specifically it relates to a means for starting an engine of thecompression ignition type.

The principalobject of the invention is to provide means for starting acompression ignition engine by first operating the engine for a shorttime on a volatile mixture cycle and subsequently automatically shiftingto high compression with oil injection and compression ignition.

A more specific object is to provide mechanically operated means,actuated by the rotation of the engine to automatically increase thecompression of the engine after a predetermined number of revolutions.Other objects will be apparent from the detailed description to follow..

The objects of the invention are accomplished by a construction andarrangement of parts such as illustrated in the drawings. A reducinggear train is operatively connected to the crank shaft of an engine andto a trip device which is automatically released after a predeterminednumber of revolutions of the engine. The trip device is connected to avalve operating mechanism operable to actuate a valve controllingcommunication between the main combustion space of an engine and anauxiliary compression space. The auxiliary compression space or chamberis provided with spark ignition means and a carburetor is provided forfurnishing volatile mixture to the engine when it is operating on theOtto cycle on comparatively low compression.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of a high compression engine showing, inaddition to the usual fuel pump and oil lines, the trip device of theinvention and the means by which it is operated;

Figure 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale, showing the gearingof the trip actuating mechanism and details of the trip mechanism;

Figure 3 shows a carburetor for the volatile mixture cycle and the valvefor shifting from said carburetor to an air intake for operation on acompression ignition cycle;

Figure 4 is a plan view of the latch for the trip mechanism;

Figure 5 is a sectional view through the head of the engine, showing aparticular mechanism for operating the valves controlling communicationbetween the main combustion chambers and .the auxiliary compressionchambers; and

Figure 6 is an end view of the engine with, certain parts in section toshow the connection between the trip mechanism and the valve operatingmechanism; also showing the means for shifting from' the volatilemixture inlet to an air inlet. In the drawings Figure 1 shows theexterior parts of a compression ignition oil engine, commonly known as2. Diesel engine. An oil pump 10 operated by drive connections lldelivers fuel I through oil lines 12 to the individual cylinders of theengine in proper amounts. Said pump is provided with a governor. 13. Thedrive connections II are operated from the crank shaft of the enginethrough gears contained in the housing l4. The drive connections includea shaft 15, as shown in Figure 2, which drives a vertical extendingshaft 16 arranged at right angles thereto. The shaft 16 is carried insuitable bearings in a housing 11, secured to a housing I8 surroundingthe shaft 15 and secured to the housing 14. The shaft I6 carries a worml6 operatively engaging a worm gear 19 mounted on a shaft 20 extendingat right angles to the shaft Hi. The shaft 20 carries a worm 2|operatively engaging a worm gear 22 formed on and integral with a sleeve23. Said sleeve is freely rotatable on a vertically extending shaft 24.The shaft 24 is rotatably mounted in a bearing formed below the gear 22in the housing 11. The upper end of the sleeve 23 is formed with aplurality of ratchet teeth 25. Said teeth are shaped to provide fortransmitting a small amount of power in one direction and to provide aslip clutch action when the torque exceeds a predetermined amount, tosimilar teeth 25 formed on a sleeve 21 rigidly mounted on the shaft 24.The shaft 24 extends vertically upwardly. An enclosing housing 28surrounds said shaft and is provided with a portion 29, extending intothe housing I! and providing a bearing for the upper-portion of thesleeve 23. The housing 28 is secured by catch screws 30 to the housingI1. The upper portion of the housing 28 is spaced from the shaft 24,thereby providing a recess 3| annular in cross section, in which aspring 32 is positioned. Said spring is seated against the bottom of therecess and abuts at the top a member 33, which is secured to the top ofthe shaft 24 against rotation with respect thereto. Said member isformed with a fiat upper face 34, as best shown in Figure 4. A notch 35extends substantially radially to the member 34 and axially completelythrough said member. The member is spaced some distance above the top ofthe housing 23 and a notch 36 is formed in said housing at one positionto provide a considerable space below the bottom of the member 34 for apurpose to be hereinafter described.

A bracket 31 is rigidly securedto one portion of the cylinder head 38. Alever 39 is pivoted intermediate its ends on a transverse axis on saidbracket. One end of said lever extends over the member 33 with thenarrow end portion 49 normally, seated on the surface 34 formed on saidmember. The end portion 40 is somewhat narrower than the slot 35 wherebysaid end portion will slide vertically therethrough when the slot comesinto vertical alignment therewith. The end portion 49 has a verticalthickness less than the distance between the bottom of the member 33 andthe bottom of the slot 36, whereby aftersaid end portion has passedthrough the slot'it will not thereafter engage the memher.

A rigid, downwardly extending bracket 4| is secured to the lever 39 nearthe end portion 40. A strong tension spring 42 is secured at one end tothe lower end of the bracket 4|. At its other end the spring 42 issecured to a lever arm 43 integral with a member 44. The member 44 iskeyed to a rotatable shaft 45. Said member is provided with a handle 46for manual operation, and a lug 41, which is shaped and positioned toengage a notch 48 formed in an end of the lever 39.

The shaft 45 extends transversely above the cylinder head of the engine,as best shown in Figure 6. Said shaft is suitably supported in bearings.Asmall portion of a worm 49 is cut on the shaft intermediate its ends.Said worm engages a worm 56 non-rotatably mounted on a shaft 56extending longitudinally of the engine above the cylinder head. As shownin Figure 5, cams 5| are mounted on said shaft. One of these cams ispositioned for operating the mechanism of each cylinder which is exactlysimilar in construction.

The essential parts of a conventional compression ignition oil engineare shown in Figure 5. A

piston 52 is operated in a cylinder 53. A cylinder head 54, cored toprovide water circulation passageways, is mounted above the cylinder 53in the usual manner. Said cylinder head is also provided with bores 55into which auxiliary combustion chambers 56 are fitted. Said combustionchambers are fitted at their upper ends with oil delivery nozzles 51. Anoil feed line 58 connects with each of the fuel nozzles. The cylinderhead 54 is also formed with auxiliary compression chambers 59. Saidchambers communicate with the main combustion chamber formed by thecylinder of the engine by means of a passageway 66 formed in the'cylinder head. The passageway 60 communicates with the maincombustionchamber through aneck portion 6|, circular in cross section. A conicalvalve seat 62 is formed on the cylinder side of said neck portion. Apocket valve 63, having a head 64'formed with a conical seat 65 ispositioned with said seat in engagement with the seat 62. Said valve hasa stem 66 extending vertically through the upper wall forming thepassage 60. The cylinder head is so formed as to provide -a verticalbore 61 of a substantial length from the point where the valve passesthrough the wall of the passage 60 to the top of the cylinder head. Asleeve 68, rigidly secured to the valve stem 69 for movement therewith,slidably fits into a bore 61. At the end of said bore a conical seat 69is formed. A

similar seat 10, formed on the bottom of the sleeve 68, is engageablewith the seat 69 to form a gas tight seal. A recess 1| is formed in thetop of the cylinder head concentric with respect to the bore 61. Asleeve 12, fitted in said recess,

at its upper end abuts against a flange 14 formed on a member 15 rigidlysecured to the valve stem 66. The upper surface of the member 15 forms aseat for an actuating member 16. The other end of said member engages amember 11 slidably mounted on a stud 18 threaded into the cylinder head.Said stud is spaced from the valve stem 66 and is substantially parallelthereto. A compression spring 19, considerably stronger than the spring13, is seated in a recess formed around the stud 18 and abuts againstthe lower side of the member 11. A pin through the stud 18 above themember 16, limits the upward displacement of that end of said member.The cam 5| operatively engages the actuating member 16 intermediate itsends.

The remaining parts shown in Figure 6 are conventional elements found inall internal combustion engines utilizing valve-in-head construction.The rocker arm 8| is actuated by the push rod 82 to operate the valve83. These elements have not been shown in detail as they are not a partof the present invention.

one end with the manifold and having a cover-,

ing plate at the other end. The shaft 81 extends axially through thecylindrical portion 89. 'A barrel valve 9| is mounted on said shaft.Said 'valve is constructed to close either an air inlet 92 communicatingwith one side of the cylindrical portion 89, or a mixture inlet 93communicating with the bottom of said cylindrical portion. In Figure 4the valve is shown in position with the volatile mixture inlet cut offand the air inlet in communication with the manifold for operating as aDiesel engine. A small carburetor 94, having a fuel inlet 95 and airinlet 96, furnishes the volatile mixture when operating the engine onlow compression.

In the operation of the particular embodiment of this invention, abovedescribed. the handle 46 is rotated against the tension of spring 42,

thereby rotating, through the shaft 45 and the worm 49, the worm gear 50and the shaft 58 on which said gear is rigidly mounted. The cam 5| alsocarried by the shaft 59', is rotated downwardly in the directionindicated by the arrow in Figure 5. Said cam engages the actuatingmember 16, thereby moving the end over the valve 63 downwardly. Thisaction is due to the fact Said shaft that the spring 19 is stronger thanthe spring 13. Said movement continues opening the valve 63 until theseat 10 formed on the sleeve 68 engages the seat 69. This forms apositive stop. Further rotation of the cam 5| compresses the spring 19.By this construction a positive seating of the sleeve 68 is alwaysassured and it is held in position by the force necessary to compressthe spring 19.. As it would obviously be dif ficult to make anyconstruction for a plurality of valves as used in a multiple cylinderengine, of such accuracy as to positively seat a valve and assure theproper pressure, this construction has been utilized to great advantage.

With all the valves 63 of the engine in open position, the volume of thepassage 69 and the individual auxiliary compression chambers 59 is suchthat compression in the engine will be about the ratio ordinarily usedfor the volatile mixture cycle. The engine is then turned over by a handcrank or by other suitable means. It will be noted that the linkageconnecting the shaft 45 with the valve 9| is such that when the valves63 are in open position the valve 9| will close off the air inlet 32.Upon rotation of the engine air will be drawn in through the inlet 96,forming a combustionable mixture in the carburetor 95 and pass ingthrough the intake manifold 88 into the engine. pression chambers 59 areprovided with a time source of electricity by an ignition system ascommonly employed on internal combustion engines. The engine will startand operate on the volatile mixture cycle.

When the handle 46 is moved to rotate the shaft 45, as previouslydescribed, the lug 41 is brought into engagement with the notch 48formed at the end of the lever 39. The spring 42 then acts to hold saidlug in said notch. The end portion 40 at the other end of the lever 39is lifted byhand and seated on the member 33 as the handle 46 is beingturned. Due to the ratchet teeth 25 and 26 the member 33 may be turnedby hand to any desired position, that is, it may be turned to lift theend portion 40 through the slot 35 and subsequently turn so that thesaid end portion will seat on the surface 34. Through the shaft l whichis operated by and with the crank shaft of the engine and through .thereducing gearing,

the member 33 is rotated very slowly. It has been found that underordinary conditions the engine will be warm enough and have attainedsuflicient momentum to run compression ignition, utilizing oil as fuel,after about 600 revolutions. The gearing has, therefore, been designedso that the member 33 will move approximately 360 degrees during 600revolutions of the engine crank shaft. As shown in Figure 4, after themember 33 has moved in the direction indicated by the arrow onerevolution, the end portion 49 will come into align-- ment with the slot35 and will drop therethrough. At the same time the tilting movement ofthe lever 39 releases the notch 48 from the lug 41. The spring 42 thenrotates the member 44 and the shaft 45, whereby, through the geararrangement previously described in detail, the cams 5| are lifted. Thevalves 63 immediately seat, cutting off the communication between theauxiliary compression chamber and the main combustion chamber. Thecompression ratio is thereby increased to that necessary for operationas a compression ignition engine. Oil is delivered through the nozzles51 and the engine is then operated as a so-called Diesel engine.

In the drawings and the description the particular means for cuttingdill] the ignition and for beginning the delivery of fuel oil, have notbeen shown and described. Such'means could be accomplished by a varietyof constructions well known in the art. The principal object of thisinvention is to provide means for automatically shifting from lowcompression to high compression aftera predetermined number ofrevolutions.

The volatile mixture supply means cannot obviously be allowed tofunction after the engine is in operation on compression ignition as thefuel supplied by such a mixture would fire too early in The spark plugspositioned in the com-' the compression stroke. The link 85automatically operates the valve 9| to open the air inlet 92 and toclose the inlet to the carburetor 94 when the shaft 45 rotates to liftthe cams 5|.

It is to be understood that applicant has shown and described only apreferred embodiment of his improved means for starting high compressionengines and that he claims as his invention all modifications fallingwithin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a high compression internal combustion engine the combination ofmeans operable to lower the compression for starting, and engineactuated means to increase the compression after a predetermined numberof revolutions of the engine.

means actuated by the engine to close communication between saidchambers after a predetermined number of revolutions of the engine.

4. In an internal combustion engine the combination of a combustionchamber, air inlet and exhaust outlet means, an auxiliary compressionchamber in communication with the combustion chamber, a valve operableto close communication between said chambers, means for initiallyopening the valve thereby reducing the compression in the combustionchamber, means for supplying a volatile fuel to the air inlet and forigniting said fuel whereby the engine may be run on a volatile mixtureat low compression, and means actuated by the rotation of the engine toclose the auxiliary compression chamber and. to cut off the supply ofvolatile fuel after a predetermined number of revolutions of the engine.

5. In a high compression oil burning engine having a combustion chamber,an air inlet communicating with said chamber, inlet and exhaust valves,and means for supplying oil to the combustion chamber, means forstarting comprising an auxiliary compression chamber in communicationwith the combustion chamber, a valve operable to open and close saidchamber, spark ignition means in said chamber, means for opening thevalve thereby reducing the compression in the combustion chamber, meansfor supplying a volatile fuel to theair inlet whereby the engine may beoperated on a volatile mixture cycle at means actuated by the engine toindicate a predetermined number of revolutions of engine op erationafter starting, and means actuated by said control means to shift fromthe lower compression to the high compression upon completion of saidindicated number of revolutions.

8. In an internal combustion engine, the combination of means foroperating the engine on a volatile mixture with spark ignition and lowcompression, means for operating the engine on high compression withnon-volatile fuel and compression ignition, means for shifting from oneform of operation to the other, and control means for the shifting meanscomprising a delayed action tripping element mechanically actuated bythe engine during operation on low compression and moving in timedrelation' to the revolutions thereof.

9. In an internal combustion engine, the com- .bination of means foroperating the engine on a volatile mixture with spark ignition and lowcompression, means for operating the engine on high compression withnon-volatile fuel and compression ignition, means for shifting from oneform of operation to the other, and control means on the shifting meanscomprising a rotating tripping element mechanically actuated by theengine while operating on low compression and effective to operate theshifting means after op'- eration of the engine for a limited number ofrevolutions. 4 EDWARD A. JOHNSTON.

